Julian Seymour Clifford (London, 28 September 1877 – Hastings, 27 December 1921) was an English conductor, composer and pianist particularly associated with the orchestras at Harrogate and Hastings, which he carried to a high level of accomplishment, introducing new works by English composers and encouraging soloists of national standing to perform in the provinces. His wife was a soprano singer. After his early death his example was followed by their son, also Julian Clifford (born 1903), who was a composer and a conductor working for Decca Records in early days, and championed works by English composers. Julian Clifford senior Clifford (the son of Thomas Clifford of Tonbridge, Kent) was educated at Ardingly College, Tonbridge School, the Leipzig Conservatory (under Józef Śliwiński and Sir Walter Parratt) and the Royal College of Music. After terms as conductor of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Yorkshire Permanent Orchestra in Leeds, he became musical director to the Corporations of Harrogate (Yorkshire) and [Hastings] (Sussex). He frequently conducted in London, and was considered a particularly fine conductor of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's music. Clifford performed his own piano solo compositions, Three Episodes and Grand Valse Caprice, in a concert in Doncaster in 1899. On 17 December 1902, he married (Alice) Margaret Mary Henniker-Major (b. 23 May 1870), daughter of the 5th Baron Henniker and 2nd Baron Hartismere (formerly MP for East Suffolk and Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man, who died in 1902). Margaret Clifford was an accomplished soprano singer. Their son, Julian Major Herbert Henniker Clifford, was born in 1903 and their daughter, Margaret, in 1912. Clifford, who was considered a musical 'phenomenon', as General Entertainment Manager to the Harrogate Spa took over the Harrogate Orchestra from C.L. Naylor in 1906, with a budget of £3,500 to spend on the orchestra. He built it into a fine ensemble, attracting such artists as Fritz Kreisler, Nellie Melba, Ferruccio Busoni, Ignacy Paderewski and Anna Pavlova. The fully professional orchestra moved to Hastings for the winter seasons, an arrangement which continued until 1930. Clifford was also conductor of the Westminster Orchestral Society in 1906–07. Clifford worked closely with his friend and colleague Ernest Farrar, a pupil of Charles Villiers Stanford's. In October 1914, at the first Yorkshire production of the 1913 William Russell film Tannhauser Clifford and Farrar arranged the accompanying music. In 1904, the Cliffords were assisting Mrs Patrick Campbell in a concert at the Harrogate